Keira Knightley recalls being “stalked by men” at the height of Pirates of the Caribbean fame

Keira Knightley is opening up concerning the darkish facet of stardom, significantly throughout her early twenties when she skilled being “stalked by males.”

In a revealing dialog with the Los Angeles Times, the Academy Award nominee mirrored on her early days in Hollywood, discussing the extraordinary public scrutiny and body-shaming she endured whereas rising up within the highlight.

“It’s extremely brutal to have your privateness taken away in your teenage years, early 20s, and to be put underneath that scrutiny at a degree if you end up nonetheless rising,” Knightley stated. “Having stated that, I would not have the monetary stability or the profession that I do now with out that interval. I had a five-year interval between the age of 17 and 21-ish, and I am by no means going to have that form of success once more. It completely set me up for all times. Did it come at a price? Sure, it did. It got here at an enormous value.”

The British star shot to worldwide fame in 2003 when she was simply 18, starring in two blockbuster hits – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Love Really. Her portrayal of Elizabeth Swann within the Pirates collection, whereas career-defining, sadly attracted undesirable consideration and inappropriate conduct from sure people.

Talking concerning the public’s remedy of her, Knightley revealed that her “jaw dropped on the time.” “I did not suppose it was OK on the time,” she defined. “I used to be very clear on it being completely stunning. There was an quantity of gaslighting to be instructed by a load of males that ‘you wished this.’ It was rape communicate. You already know, ‘That is what you deserve.’ It was a really violent, misogynistic ambiance.”

The Pleasure & Prejudice star elaborated: “They very particularly meant I wished to be stalked by males. Whether or not that was stalking as a result of someone was mentally ailing, or as a result of folks had been incomes cash from it — it felt the identical to me. It was a brutal time to be a younger girl within the public eye.”

Taking a look at as we speak’s panorama, greater than twenty years after her rise to fame, Knightley believes social media has intensified these challenges for younger ladies. “Social media has put that in a complete different context, whenever you have a look at the harm that is been accomplished to younger ladies, to teenage women,” Knightley added. “In the end, that is what fame is — it is being publicly shamed. Numerous teenage women do not survive that.”

Final month, the Atonement star mirrored on her time making the Pirates movies, sharing her complicated relationship with the blockbuster franchise that starred her alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Whereas acknowledging how the collection helped set up her presence in Hollywood, she additionally revealed how its large success led to public criticism.

“It is a humorous factor when you’ve gotten one thing that was making and breaking you on the identical time,” Knightley stated of the franchise on the time. “I used to be seen as shit due to them, and but as a result of they did so effectively I used to be given the chance to do the movies that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for. They had been probably the most profitable movies I am going to ever be part of, and so they had been the rationale that I used to be taken down publicly. So they are a very confused place in my head.”

Final replace on 2024-12-06 / Affiliate hyperlinks / Photos from Amazon Product Promoting API